


luck

by wordswithdragons



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Modern AU, based off the sdcc 2020 dnd skit, claudia soren aaravos viren & ezran all make appearances / mentions, happy halloween everyone!!, i have never played dnd don't come @ me if it's inaccurate, i'm only here for the flirting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:14:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27318334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordswithdragons/pseuds/wordswithdragons
Summary: Callum and Rayla meet at a DnD club. Modern AU.
Relationships: Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 96





	luck

**Author's Note:**

> based off the sdcc 2020 skit the voice actors put on! happy halloween everyone!

Technically speaking, Dungeons and Dragons was more Ezran than Callum's thing. He'd been the one to get into it, finding Magic the Gathering not present enough and always one for a good consistent story. And then Ez, with Bait on his lap, had found a local Dungeons and Dragons group looking to get started a fifteen minute drive away. He'd begged and bribed for permission to go, and thus Callum had gone to the meetings with him for three reasons.

One: he wasn't about to let his twelve year old brother go a meeting with some adult members all by himself, although his conscience was eased by the fact the DM was Claudia's old grade 12 science teacher, Aaravos, who was nice if eccentric. Two: Ezran flat out needed a drive there after school at four, and Harrow wasn't usually home by five, so Callum was the best case chauffeur—even once Claudia and Soren joined later, waggling fingers maniacally and talking about stats that went over Callum's head in the established carpool. (Soren had been roped in with promises of a sword.) And three: there was a _very_ pretty girl there named Rayla.

She looked like the elf princess turned assassin from his favourite childhood book series, just without the pointy ears. But she had the bright eyes and (dyed, surely?) white hair to match, and wore a generally green and black jock slanted attire. She played competitive soccer against Soren and went to the private school on the other side of the town and Callum couldn't figure out why she liked something quite so nerdy, but she was the heart and soul of every session, laughing and daring in equal measure. Or at least, Callum thought so. He couldn't keep from cracking up at her quips and sitting next to her at meetings, feeling light headed every time she smiled at him (which seemed—he hoped?—to be often).

So a couple weeks in when one of her dads couldn't pick her up after the end of the session, and Callum had grown very fond of his elf DND character who was totally _not_ based on her, Rayla mentioned something about taking the bus, the following words flowed out of Callum's mouth before he could stop them. "Oh, we could drive you home."

Rayla's mouth went ajar, clearly taken aback. "Oh, um, you sure?"

Callum's cheeks heated and he coughed. So what if she lived a good thirty minutes out of the way? "Well, yeah—"

"Of course!" Ezran said, beaming with Bait in his arms. "It'll be fun!"

The first drive was awkward, conversation brokered by the radio and Ezran mostly, but Callum managed not to make a fool of himself so he considered it a success. The second, two sessions later, was far better. He even made her laugh. By the third at the end of the month—something about her dads both having strict work schedules or something—Callum just offered to drive her home every time.

Rayla's smile was hesitant. "You're sure?"

"As long as your character doesn't kill my character in DnD, we're good," he promised her, and that was that.

The outside of her house was nice and Ezran waved goodbye out the window. "Goodnight Rayla!"

She stopped by the driver's window and Callum rolled it down despite the slight chill in the air now that it's almost September. "Thanks," she said, fiddling with her hair. "I owe you one."

"Hey," he replied. "Just don't be the death of me sometime, and we'll call it even. I'll see you next week?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

So that became the start of Callum's grade 11 year: hanging out in the art room at lunch, helping Ez clear out Bait's aquarium, doing homework, and driving back and forth from their DnD sessions every Thursday after school, and learning three very important things. One: Claudia's science teacher really should've been an English teacher, with the way he told stories. Two: campaigns were long and constantly changing. Claudia and Soren had joined after getting curious about their neighbour's new Thursday night activity. Claudia been happy to catch up with her old teacher and joked about bringing her dad along, and Soren always drove and they were always five minutes late. Three: Rayla didn't have a boyfriend, and Callum was very tempted to try and change that.

But how? He didn't want to be so forward it would be obvious. That would make things _weird_ if she didn't like him back and they'd still see each other at DnD every week. And he was starting to think Soren and Claudia could tell something was up, because Soren seemed to like the way he could get way more of a rise out of Callum by making things difficult for Rayla's character rather than for Callum's own.

Rayla's character was a knight, practiced and talented with a sword, but the dice betrayed her that night and Aaravos had little choice but to let the monster fell her. Sometimes, Callum forgot that as a story and a game, Dungeons and Dragons could be quite brutal. Claudia placed a sympathetic hand on Rayla's shoulder while Soren bemoaned dramatically. Ezran looked rather teary eyed—"But your character was so nice," disregarding that his was the most chaotic evil entity in the game—and Rayla pressed her lips together.

She'd loved that character, after all, but she'd also been playing DnD for a while. This couldn't have been the first time one of her characters had died.

So Callum stepped up and slayed the monster with a lucky 20, and then fixed Aaravos with a stern look. "We have to have a funeral," he insisted. "It's only right."

A smile and scoff pulled at Rayla's lips, but she seemed touched underneath it. "Knights fall in the line of duty all the time—" she placated, but Callum shook his head.

"You're dead," he reminded her and she narrowed her eyes. His own heart slowed. She'd just start with a new character. Hers dying didn't mean she'd leave the campaign or their sessions. She'd stick around. Callum let loose a cheeky grin back at her. "Which means you have no bearing on how the game goes until we meet your new character. So yes, _my_ character is deciding to have a funeral."

Rayla rolled her eyes but sat back in her chair, smiling. "Yes, well give Jack my thanks." She'd teased him about giving such an ordinary name to such an extraordinary character, but Callum had just beamed back at her. _Yes, 'cause he's a Jack of all trades, and blends in with the crowd, y'see?_

Ezran's chaotic entity gave a very stirring eulogy, and Aaravos brought their session to the close shortly afterwards, at their usual time of 8:15pm. "I want you think about what sort of chaotic you could be next time," he advised Rayla.

Ezran spouted off all the different possibilities on the car ride home, having memorized some stats and class distinctions. Callum was surprised that he'd had the energy. Between this, grade 7 band, and preparing for the Halloween concert he was a part of, he'd been pretty busy lately. And true to Callum's suspicions, Ezran conked out at one of the red lights halfway to Rayla's house. Halloween was in a week and Ezran's concert was on the 30th. Aaravos was calling them over for a weekend session on the 31st instead of their usual Thursday one, encouraging everyone to dress up as their characters. Callum would be doing Ezran's face paint and had gotten his mother to help him with some sewing for his own green assassin garb.

"Guess I'll have to change my costume, now," said Rayla after a stretch of companionable silence. The light turned green and Callum made the turn on the left down a dark street with some glowing Halloween decorations already up. "Which honestly might be for the best. I was finding trouble getting girl's armour that didn't have stupid boob breastplates."

"You don't think your next character would be a knight?" Callum asked, ignoring the image that popped into his head. He was a teenage boy with physical feelings and self control, thank you very much.

"I dunno," she mused. "I think I'd like to do something different. I've had like four DnD characters and they've always been elves and rogues or knights." Her eyes twinkled mischievously when they passed under a streetlamp. "What if I was a rival assassin? Give you a run for your money."

"You could try," he teased, leaning over slightly, and wondering if this counted as flirting. Rayla was the only person who could put her feet up on his dashboard without him telling them to knock it off (he'd told Claudia to do so very nicely the previous year).

"What made you decide to be an assassin anyway?"

"Oh, there was a book series I loved a lot as a kid. The _Dregs Series_? There was an elven assassin princess, and her and this mage went around solving problems with magic. Saving the world, falling in love, all that sort of stuff. The spells were so cool."

"If you liked magic the best, why not just be a mage yourself?"

"Oh, well..." Callum's eyes darted between her and the road before remaining on the latter. They were almost at her house now. "You actually reminded me a lot of the princess assassin character."

Rayla smiled, but Callum knew she was watching him intently. "And you couldn't let the inspiration pass you by?" She sounded amused, but not weirded out or anything, so Callum counted it as a success even as his cheeks warmed.

"Not quite," he said happily. "She's pretty and cool—I mean," he coughed. "Pretty cool, just like you."

She was definitely teasing him now, eyes alight for a moment, before her tone turned more curious. "What about the mage? What were they like?"

"He had a thick book of spells," Callum remembered. "And was skilled fighter, but he had to work a little bit longer to come into his own. Really good at sky magic; manipulating wind, growing wings, creating lightning, stuff like that."

"Did he wear a nerdy scarf like yours?" Rayla reached out and grasped at the side of his, and a shiver ran up his spine.

"Hey," he protested, batting her hand away and she cackled to herself. Even his annoyance couldn't take his blush away. "It's not nerdy, it's fashionable."

"Mhm." She laughed when he frowned, and then she almost caused a car accident when she said, "Don't worry. It's cute, too."

_Cute._ The single syllable electrified him and it was probably good for everyone's safety when he pulled up in her driveway. Rayla grabbed her bag as she got out of his car. She looped around to stand by his window and Callum rolled it down before. Her cheeks looked pink, but that must've been because of the cold. She folded her arms over the windowsill. "I'll see you on Saturday?" she checked. And it seemed... sounded like she was asking if she was going to see _him_ , not just him and Ezran like always.

Callum exhaled and his breath made a small cloud of mist in the air. "Yeah. I'll be there."

Her eyes locked with his. "Good," she murmured, quietly enough he could hear his heart pounding in his ears.

Callum coughed again. "Well, good luck with your costume."

"Thanks." She tucked her hair behind her ear in that adorable way of hers. "G'night, Callum."

"Night."

The next week (and two _extra_ days!) dragged on till the next Saturday. Because it was a weekend, they were able to go over to Aaravos' a bit earlier than usual at four instead of six. Callum parked on the road, the driveway full of Aaravos' and Soren's car. Inside, there were bat shaped cookies on a tray with black and orange icing. Claudia and Soren had somehow wrapped Viren into the whole thing and seemed to be explaining the game to him, sitting at their usual seats at the table. It would be a little weird, Callum considered, to play a session with his father's best friend, but Ezran just looked excited that there was a new player who didn't know how chaotic evil his character was that he could take advantage of.

Viren hadn't gotten the costume memo, dressed as himself similarly to how Soren was, although the older teen had pulled on some grey dollar store armour. Claudia's costume was colourful of whatever her bunny creature was. Ezran went to show off the face paint Callum had done to Aaravos, who was the most decked out of all, with a silver wig and horns and painted purple skin.

Callum rubbed his arms. The assassin get up was comfortable but surprisingly cold with his arms mostly bare except for black forearm wrappings. Maybe it was worth it to drape his scarf over himself as a shawl?

"Hey, Callum." Rayla's nimble fingers landed on his shoulder and he turned, his eyes going wide. She looked good (because she always did) but she looked like a memory, too. The red tunic, the blue cloak with a silver clasp (painted, probably). The way she'd pulled her hair back into a tiny ponytail and had a wand sticking out of one cloak pocket. She was, by all means, dressed as the mage counterpart to his elf.

Callum's jaw dropped and then he clamped his mouth shut, not wanting to stammer. "O-oh, hey—you look great!"

"Thanks," she said brightly, her lilac eyes twinkling. She hadn't taken her hand off his shoulder. "I looked up that book series you mentioned online. It was very _inspiring_."

He opened his mouth to say something, but then Aaravos was clapping his hands together. "Come all," he beckoned and they took their seats around the table. Due to the extra chairs, Rayla scooted hers a bit closer to Callum's, their thighs nearly touching."We have two new characters to meet. Claudia and Soren have helped their father with a character construction sheet, so he will be joining the party, at least temporarily. And Rayla, you will be introducing us to your new character."

Aaravos had all their characters go to a crowded tavern and similarly take a seat. For Viren's benefit, they would all have to re-introduce their characters. Viren introduced his first, haltingly and with a lot of purple prose, but Callum could barely pay attention. Rayla had shown up here dressed like a character from his favourite book series, who would presumably be the basis for her new DnD character. A series where the romance between the assassin and the mage was a cornerstone and if she'd done research into the mage's appearance, which she clearly _had_ , she would have stumbled upon it... Did she not care? Or had she done it on purpose?

"Callum?" Ezran nudged him with a gentle elbow on his other side. Oh god, had he been staring at her? Was it noticeable? He snapped out of his stupor. "It's your turn."

"Oh, right—" He blushed, jerking his gaze away from Rayla, but not before he saw the smile she directed towards him widen. Well. Now was as good a time as any to see how responsive she'd be. Everyone needed a little bit of bravery on Halloween. "Uh, I'm a mysterious elf assassin named Jack—with two beautiful blades," he held up one of the foam ones he'd painted, and then swallowed and looked towards Rayla. "To match my two beautiful eyes."

Her own lit up and his heart pounded. "And I'm Paula, a young, talented, dorky mage," said Rayla. "But like, a _cute_ dorky." She _winked_ at him. "I have a thick spell of tomes under my arm."

Oh, Callum could pursue her now. "My character can—cannot help but look at her. He locks eyes with Rayla's mage."

Aaravos looked between them and raised his eyebrows. "We will be able to focus on establishing _character_ relationships later," he said and Ezran giggled. "For now, we should carry on with the introductions. Ezran, why don't you go next?"

It felt like an eternity of Aaravos pausing the session to go hand out candy, of Viren's long rambling, dramatic speeches, Callum barely paying attention to the game play, and constantly catching Rayla's eye before Aaravos called for a session break. A time for them to eat the pizza he'd made and for any bathroom breaks. Callum took a slice and napkin and Rayla did the same; he jerked his head to the backyard door and they slipped outside onto the patio. It was cold this late at night but he barely felt it, as they leaned against the patio's railing, looking out onto the dark backyard.

They each took a bite of their pizza before he looked over at her. She took a sip of her pop.

"I noticed you didn't have very good luck back there." Rayla nudged his hip with hers. "Rolling lots of ones and twos."

"Yeah, well my head wasn't really in it," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand and then dropping it back down on the railing. He hadn't wanted to do much more 'through the game' flirting in front of everyone until he'd spoken to her personally. "So..." His free hand inched towards hers.

"So...?" Rayla smiled at him, her hair shining in the moonlight.

"Was it all for the game?" he asked.

"You _are_ really dorky," she teased and he laughed. She grinned brilliantly at him. "And _very_ cute."

Callum took her hand. "Then I think I'm pretty damn lucky."

Rayla beamed back at him and he almost leaned in when there was a shriek they could hear even through the glass door. They whirled around to see Claudia cackling on the other side of it, a large spider dangling from a string and Soren looking very grumpy at his sister's latest prank.

"Guess we should head back in," Callum considered. "It's pretty cold."

She didn't let go of his hand, instead leaning over and pressing a kiss to his cheek. His whole body turned warm. "Come on," she said, tugging him back towards the door. "We have a campaign to finish."

And Callum felt very lucky indeed, that rolling the dice only required one hand, so he didn't have to let go of hers with the other.


End file.
